A red flag with a blue canton and a white emblem in it. The emblem consists
of a cog wheel and a paddy ear surrounded with 14 five-pointed stars. Most
vexillological sources give the ratio as 5:9 if I am not mistaken. Some show a
2:3 ratio (e.g., Crampton (1990f) or 6:11. I think
that the ratio is not prescribed.
In any case, it seems that the canton is somewhat higher than half the hoist,
whereas the length is less than half the fly. I doubt that there are official
specifications.Željko Heimer, 30 June 2002

The Myanmar flag is displayed with fair frequency by the government,
particularly around major intersections of larger towns. Myanmar flags can be
seen flying over private establishments, but it's somewhat rare. Cost is not a
factor though. Virtually all the flags I saw in Myanmar were made of broad cloth
with the canton being printed. However, some of these flags were rather large.
In Yangon, I saw 2 flags measuring roughly 8 x 12 ft. Clay Moss, 7 July 2001

The flag was adopted on 3 January 1974, the year when Burma became the Socialist Republic of the Burmese Federation. Since then the state has changed its name, but not its flag. The fourteen stars are for 14 states, the cog wheel and rice are for industry and agriculture.
Željko Heimer, 24 February 1996

The State Flag is rectangular in shape and its background colour is red with a dark blue canton at the top left corner. A pinion and ears of paddy encircled with fourteen white stars of equal size have been superimposed on the dark blue field of the canton.

The center of the pinion coincides with the center of the blue canton. The pinion has fourteen cogs of equal size and within it are two ears of paddy consisting of 34 grains. At the top of each cog of the pinion is a star with five vertices.

Of the three colours of the flag, red signifies courage and decisiveness, white signifies purity and virtue and dark blue signifies peace and integrity.
contributed by Dov Gutterman, 7 March 1999

4 January 1974. New flag and new constitution ('Socialist Republic of the Union
of Burma')
26 September 1988. New country name ('Union of Burma'), no flag change.
19 June 1989. New country name ('Union of Myanma', or 'Mynamar'), no flag
change.Ivan Sache, 28 January 2001

The flag (in its present form) was established by Decree No. 109 of the
Revolutionary Council, published in the Rangoon Guardian of 27 December 1973.Christopher Southworth, 8 April 2005

The current national emblem was officially adopted on 3rd January 1974 in
accordance with Article 191/192 of the constitution of the Union of Myanmar which was adopted by the national referendum conducted in the previous year. However on 18 September 1988 the state law and order restoration council took over the responsibilities of the state. The previous Socialist system ceased to exist when the new government adopted a new policy towards establishing a multiparty democratic system along with a market-oriented economic policy.
Therefore the Myanmar word meaning "socialist republic" was deleted from the
emblem. Except for that minor alteration the other features of the state emblem
remain unchanged.
Received from the Myanmar Embassy to Japan by Nozomi Kariyasu, 16 April 1999

The illustration in Chapter XIV, Article 190 of the Constitution of 4 January
1974 (and accompanying text) shows a hitherto unknown ratio of 5:8, with a
canton in proportions of 4:5 occupying 55% of the flag's width. If this were not
enough, the list of colours gives the "rice stalk" as "yellow"? The drawing of
this rice stalk, of the cog wheel and of the stars is far too crude (and indeed
uneven) for specification purposes, but in approximate figures and assuming a
flag of 240 x 384 units the hoist would read 132-108 and the length 165-219, the
complete emblem is contained within an imaginary circle of diameter equaling 128
units with each star at 13.5 units, the outer rim of the cogwheel at 93 units
and the inner blue circle at 58 units diameter.

A quick look at the various official websites of Myanmar, appears to confirm
that the flag as currently flown has a ratio of 5:9, that the canton is one-half
the width of the flag and in proportions of 5:8, and that the emblem occupies
some 88 - 90% the width of the canton. Whether this reflects the Decree of 1973
or some later
legislation is a matter of conjecture.Christopher Southworth, 8 April 2005

Petersen (1971) shows
an orange flag with a peacock as the president's flag.Michael Smuda, 22 October 2001

Crampton
(1990) shows a very similar flag and says: "The flag of the President
(1948-62) was orange with a peacock in the centre." However,
Barraclough
(1965) still showed the orange flag with the peacock, while
Barraclough and Compton (1981) says: "Prior to
1974 there was a flag for the President, but it is
uncertain if this still is in use".Mark Sensen, 22 October 2001

Pedersen
(1970) reported "The flag shows Burma's national symbol, the peacock, which
was used from about 1800 as a Royal Beast by the last King of Burma."Ivan Sache, 2 May 2002